Mom Answers

Ok. I have hypothyroidism. I was born completely without one. I am now 20 years old and pregnant with my 2nd child. I grew up a normal life! The only hard thing was, was remebering to take my medication on a daily basis. When it comes to mental retardation in newborns with hypothyroidism...that normally only happens when its not caught early. When a child is born now, it is LAW the hospital HAS to take the tsh levels in the newborn. And when or if it comes back adnormal..they call you. Which i am sure you all know. I was born in 1991 and they caught it with in a week of me being born. Todays medicine is better than it was back then. I am sure all your babies will be just fine! I was the 3rd child born in my family and the only one with a thyroid problem. And my son, has a perfectly working thyroid. best off luck and just remember when they get older to HOUND their buts about taking their medicine!

My daughter was born two years ago with CH. Like most of you on this board who have received that diagnosis, I was terrified. I worried and visited message boards trying to find hope. There is solace in finding out that you're not alone. This is just one dad's experience, but I'd like to add a comment that may find someone looking for that same solace I was.
First, two years later, my daughter couldn't be more wonderful. We are a blessed family. So, here is my humble advice from a dad who has been there:
1. This condition is extremely easy to treat. In fact, there are few other conditions that have as much success for such a little and inexpensive effort.
2. Stop worrying and enjoy your kid. These days go fast.
3. Make sure you're consistent with medication and follow-up blood tests. Your kid depends on you.
4. Tylenol syringes are excellent for delivering crushed Levothyroxine.
5. Soon, the CH diagnosis will just be an excuse to get ice cream after blood work.
Hope that helps!

Our nine month old daughter was diagnosed at 10 days old, and we were terrified. Lots of tears, anxiety, and general heart break. Trying to get a 10 day old infant to take medication was horrible. Any little bit that didn?t go down, I was sure she would be developmentally and physically handicapped. It was a very stressful time for us. Luckily, we had a family friend whose daughter was diagnosed at birth and is now a perfectly normal eight year old girl. No matter how many times the pediatrician or specialist told us she would develop normally, as long as she took her medication, I didn?t believe her. But I did believe the other mother. Now, at nine months, she is happiest baby. She is crawling, babbling, standing, chasing after her big sister. I still have anxiety when she goes in for blood work, since her dose is always changing, but she is growing and the specialist said she is doing great. Trust your doctor, this is treatable, and your baby will be fine.

I had twin girls and my smallest one was diagnosed with CH days after birth this she had a choking episode where she was not stopping to breathe when she was eating so she was put on a apnea monitor as well her dosage changed quite a bit and it would be so frustrating and hard on me! Her endocrinologist said that if her levels remained stable up to her 1st year more than likely after her 3rd birthday she would not have to be on medication. Well her thc levels where abnormal and now has to take her medication for the rest of her life but she will have a normal life she developed at the same pace as her sister and there is nothing wrong with her a he is now 2 and I make taking her pill fun by telling her it's princess medicine to make her stronger and she loves it she will take it with no water just chews it up! I can be very scary because I was scared to death all you need to do is get informed and DONT BELIEVE WHAT THE INTERNET SAYS!!!

I was born with out thyroid in 1977. In that time and age the screenings were not done. They chose to sceen me and I was born without a thyroid. I am healthy at 35 years old, 5 foot 6 and can have children, and do other normal things. I would watch out for week muscles, sometimes the muscles in the wrist can be week the first 10 years. It can be stregthened by wrist exercises, please make sure your child takes their meds daily and lives as any other child. Teachers and school departments don't know much sometime and can treat children with this birth defect as special needs. Make sure the school is notified that your child is normal if they do find out.

My 2 month old daughter was diagnosed on day 6. I was a wreck, reading articles and looking at pictures, scaring myself into thinking that she was going to be developmentally challenged. I second-guessed every move she made and wondered if I'd spend her whole childhood trying to figure out if she was developing normally.
All that changed after we met with her endocrinologist. Hypothyroidism is easily treated and all it takes is one pill a day. He said the easiest part of raising her would be giving her "daily vitamin".
Our daughters thyroid levels were in line within a few weeks.
It is sad seeing her get her blood drawn but she gets over it quickly. For her medicine we get the brand name synthroid since it tastes better than the generic. Instead of worrying about mixing it with milk and the medicine being left in the bottle, we crush the tablet with 2 spoons and have her suck it off our clean fingers - 10 min max if she's fussy.

Hello everyone, i wanted to share my opinion regarding the baby eating a lot and puffy face, im a graduate medical student and my baby as well is being treated with levothyroxine do to hypothyroidism... Well the symptoms sounds to me like maybe the dose can be to high and yhe baby may be going into hyperthyroidism... The puffy face sounds a little alarming, i my opinion take the baby as soon as posible to the endocrinologist. ( Also luck for irritability, sweating, heat intolerance, increase heart rate...) all this are sights of hyperthyroidism which means the dose is too high for your baby... I hope my answer help, but main thing take the baby so the doctor can see him. Good luck

hi everyone this is a brilliant thread to find.. My baby is 3 months old and found she had a under active thyroid at 7 days old, she was very jaundice and wasn't putting on weight and sleeping all the time to start with. She had sioo many bloods taken in her first few weeks of life it wasn't fair on her felt sooo sorry for my little girl..she is three months now and she is a real chubby baby and is quite hungry a lot just wondering is that to do with her thyroid problem would her dose need to be raised.. She just seems to be hungry and her face is quite puffy..I don't have my next appointment till middle of March but was thinking of trying to get go to get earlier appointment... I know this is a older post but hopefully some of you are still here...
lol forward to replies

Oh and back to my question, we have not gotten the results back for my daughter yet. We just took her in for blood work on Wednesday, so the doctor should hopefully be able to give us the results tonight. We have been waiting for the answer to why she does not gain much weight and why her immune system is not really getting that strong for a loooonnnnng time.

I'm not exactly answering. I have a question myself. My almost 5 year old was born 3 months early and has been showing signs of having thyroid problems, possibly hyperthyroid. She can eat and eat and eat, but we have such a hard time getting her to gain weight. She is only 33 pounds and has only gained a few pounds within 2 years. When she bends over I can see her hip and back bones. She is growing taller, but growing skinnier. She just got tested for having a thyroid disorder. What I would like to know is are there any NICU nurses on here who can tell me if this is actually very common in former preemies and what can I expect if my daughter gets a diagnosis? Is this something that she might have permanently or is it possible for her to grow out of this?

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